SEIU Refunds Nurse’s Union Dues After Lawsuit Alleges Constitutional Violations
Union officials refunded money seized from her paychecks for months after she left the union
June 16, 2021, Harrisburg, PA – Donna Yanoski, a registered nurse for the Department of Corrections at SCI-Waymart in Wayne County, has secured a refund of union dues that were taken from her paycheck on the basis of a union membership card that she alleged she never signed.
Ms. Yanoski resigned from the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania (“SEIU HCPA”) in October 2020, but her employer, the Commonwealth, kept taking money from her paychecks for the union, even though Ms. Yanoski had never agreed to such payments. Ms. Yanoski alleged in her lawsuit that a union official, acting without her permission, signed her name to multiple provisions of a membership application that union officials then used to claim that she had to keep paying dues after she resigned.
To recoup her money and ensure union officials respected her constitutional rights, Ms. Yanoski sought assistance from the Fairness Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm that offers free legal help to those hurt by public-sector union officials. After Ms. Yanoski filed a federal lawsuit against SEIU HCPA in March 2021, the Commonwealth stopped taking money for the union from her paycheck, and the union refunded, with interest, all the dues taken since her resignation.
Fairness Center President Nathan McGrath released the following statement:
“Like all public employees, our client has the right not to provide financial support to a union against her will. SEIU HCPA officials violated that right by continuing to have dues taken from her paycheck even after she left the union. Adding insult to injury, they claimed they could take dues from our client based on a membership application she says she never signed. Our client should not have had to file a federal lawsuit just to have her constitutional rights respected, but it was our honor to represent her and help her secure this victory.”
This case was filed in the Federal District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
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Fairness Center attorneys are available for comment. Contact John Sweeney at 609.477.0930, or [email protected] to schedule an interview.
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The Fairness Center is a nonprofit, public interest law firm offering free legal services to those hurt by public-sector union officials. For more information visit www.FairnessCenter.org
